A Public Building That Has Not Survived to The Present Day: Zı̇le Government Mansion

Abstract

During the period of Westernization, a process of change and transformation began in Ottoman architecture. Renewal activities, especially concerning public buildings, were carried out in accordance with the administrative division regulations after the proclamation of the Tanzimat Edict. As a result of the Ottoman Empire’s efforts for modernization, various institutions were constructed or rented to maintain the functioning of state levels. One such building type was the government mansions. The government mansion built in Zile is an example of a structure used for this purpose.

It is seen from the archive scans about the Zile Government House that the need for a government mansion was established through rental method. Although there were several attempts to build a government mansion in Zile, this could not be realized due to economic reasons. It can be argued that the mansion that has survived from the Ottoman period, which constitutes the focus of our study, was used as a government mansion during the Ottoman period as well, since it was located in the city center of Zile and was located in an area where important events took place. The building, which was also used as a government mansion in the Republican period, was also used for services such as schools and health centers. It is known that the government mansion in Zile, which survived until the 1980s, also witnessed the uprisings that took place in Zile during the War of Independence. The gang leaders who started the Zile rebellion were executed in front of this government mansion. On the other hand, due to its use as a girls’ institute in the 1960s, the work also has an important place in the memory of the people.In this study, with the information obtained from the archives, the plan and architectural features of a mansion that has not survived to the present day, which was used as a government mansion in Zile, were tried to be revealed together with the stylistic features in which it was built. While the Zile Government Mansion, which has not survived to the present day and has very limited information in publications and archives, is examined within the framework of the photographs we have accessed from a private archive and the municipal archive; It was evaluated together with the cultural inventory fiche in the Zile Municipality archive and the information in the archive of the Sivas Regional Board for the Protection of Cultural Assets. Given the absence of any surviving documentation pertaining to the construction of the edifice, the architects have endeavoured to reconstruct the building’s design based on the recollections of individuals who were familiar with the structure and its functions. This approach, known as oral history, involved conducting interviews with those who had direct experience of the building and utilising their accounts to inform the design process. Photographs of the building were also consulted during the design phase.These photographs were especially instructive about the façade designs of the building. The building was designated as a cultural property in need of protection in 1983; however, the building was subsequently removed for unknown reasons. It is probable that it was about to collapse due to lack of maintenance. Having witnessed important events in history, the building was allocated and used by various institutions during the Republican period and gained an important place in people’s memory. The study is a restitution attempt on Zile Old Government Mansion. In this way, it is also aimed to contribute to new research.